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OF 

DELEGATES FROM THE CITIZENS OF 
PEBrffSYLVANIA, 

IN FAVOUR OF THE RE-ELECTION 

OF 



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AND 



OPPOSED TO MARTIN VAN BUREN AND THE 

J SUB-TREASURY. 

A S9EMBLED AT READING. 

JUSE 4S2a, 188S. • 



READING: 



1833 



V 






PROCEEDINGS 

OF THE 

DEMOCRATIC YOUNG MEN'S STATE CONVENTION 

OF PENNSYLVANIA, 



Reading, (Monday) June 4, 1838. 

The Convention was called to order in the Lutheran Church, by Mr. 
James H. Gbaeff, of the City, on whose motion, Geokge G. Barclay,, 
Esq. of Reading, was appointed Chairman. On motion of Mr. John 
JJausman, of Dauphin, Alexander W. Foster, Jr. of Pittsburgh, Wal- 
ter C. Livingston, of Lehigh, and Theophilus Fenn, of Dauphin^ 
"were appointed Secretaries. 

On motion of Mr. Charles A. Repplier, of Philadelphia, it was 
Resolved, That the Delegation from each and every County represent- 
ed, present the name of one of its members to compose a Committee to 
nominate officers for the permanent organization of this Convention, as 
the names of the counties are called, and that they report the same at 
o o'clock this afternoon. The Committee were, 
John Donaldson, of Adams county, Roland Diller, Lancaster county 



Job G. Patterson, of Allegheny county, 

John L. Leech, Armstrong, " 

J. P. Johnson, Beaver " 

Mark Dickson, Bedford " 

William Darling, Berks " 

D. Lilley, Bradford, 

Robert D. Carey, Bucks " 

W. VV. Brandon, Butler 

Alex. McConnell, Cambria 

A. R. Mcllvaine, Chester " 

Samuel H. Tyson, Clearfield " 

Benj. P. Frick, Columbia 

Joseph Mosser, Cumberland " 

John P. R-utherford, Dauphin " 

William Eves, Delaware " 

Addison May, Erie 

James Colhoun, Franklin " 

A. W. Benedict, Huntingdon u 



[Roland Diller, Lancaster 

(Christian Belnn, Lebanon 
Wm. C. Hall, Lycoming 

I J. VV. Hornbeck, Lehigh 

\S. J. Slocum, Luzerne 
VV. H. SlinglufF, Montgomery 
George Cartney, Mifflin 
John A. Lloyd, Northumberland, 
Alex. E. Brown, Northampton 
Henry H. Etter, Perry 
C. A. Repplier, Philad. city 
Thomas Moore, Philad. county 
William II. Mann, Schuylkill 
Philip Frazer, Susquehanna 
Simon Gebharl, Somerset 
William Glower, Union 
James M. Slagle, Washington 
Thos. E. Cochran, York 
Jacob Null, Westmoreland. 



S. O. Nivin, Juniata '* 

On motion, the Convention adjourned to meet at 3 o'clock, P. M 



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3 o'clock, P. M. 
The Convention re-assembled, and Mr. John Donaldson, from the 
Committee appointed for that purpose, reported the following gentle- 
men as officers, viz: 



PRESIDENT, 

SAMUEL M. BARCLAY, of Bedford co 

Vice Presidents, 

Walter C. Livingston, Lehigh, 
William Hiester, Lancaster, 
Robert F. McConaughy, Adams, 
Harvey L. Bollman, Allegheny, 
David Leech, Armstrong, 
Francis Hooper, Beaver, 
David F. Gordon, Berk?, 
Mahlon C. Mercer, Bradford, 
Isaac M'Carty, Buck?, 
W. W. Brandon, Butler, 
John Fenlin, Cambria, 
Richard M. Thomas, Chester, 
Samuel H. Tyson, Clearfield, 
George H. Willits, Columl , 
Thomas D. Urie, Cumber!. I, 
Augustus O. Hiester, Dauphin, 
James Houston, Delaware, 
Addison May, Erie, 
Joseph M. Hiester, Franklin, 
John Brotherline, Huntingdon, 
S. O. Nivin, Juniata, 
John Killinger, Lebanon, 



\ugustus E. Shulze, Lycoming, 
J. J. Slocum, Luzerne, 
Thomas Read, Montgomery, 
William Ross, Mifflin, 
Charles Pleasants, Northumberland, 
Jesse Shinier, Northampton, 
James Black, Perry, 
I. Coleman Fisher, Philadelphia City, 
James Hanna, Do. County, 
Dr. George N. Eckert, Schuylkill, 
Sylvester Abel, Susquehanna, 
-Samuel D. Witt, Somerset 
Robert P. M'Clay, Union, 
James M. Slagle, Washington, 
John C. Lobengir, Westmoreland, 
Adam Herman, York. 

Secretaries. 
Alexander W. Foster, Jr. Allegheny, 
Samuel D. Leib, Schuylkill, 
James Arthur, Huntingdon, 
Emanuel Guyer, Dauphin, 
John S. Richards, Barks, 
! George Rockenburjr, Philadelphia co. 
, Joseph Kingsbury, Bradford, 
Charles S. Iredell, Montgomery. 



On motion of William Corfield, Esq. of the county of Philadelphia, 
the report was unanimously adopted. 

Col. Childs of the city of Philadelphia, and Major Colhoun of 
Franklin county, conducted the President to the chair. 

Before taking his seat the President addressed the Convention in sub- 
stance as follows: 

Fellow Citizens: — 

To be called upon to preside over the deliberations of so numerous aa 
assembly, collected from all parts of this mighty State at the call of 
their countrv, in such numbers that we may well call it a multitude, is. 
an honour so marked that 1 utterly fail in words to convey to you anjr 
idea of my feelings. Let it be sufficient for me to say, I thank you most 
sincerely — from my heart I thank you. 

I feel this distinguished mark of your confidence more deeply, inas- 
much as it has been entirely unsolicited by me, and because I feel, sen- 
sibly feel, that I am not competent to perform the duties devolving upon 
me. I shall, however, in the discharge of my duties endeavour to act 
with impartiality. It is to be hoped that no sectional feelings or person- 
al predilections, will operate to mar the unity of our deliberations, but 
that we shall keep in mind that glorious motto, which now shines so 
conspicuously before our eyes, " In Union thehe is Strength," and 
we cannot fail to carry out the great ends for which we have assembled. 

We are here, fellow citizens, at the call of our country. We are here 
for the preservation of our liberties and our free institutions. We are 
here to advocate the doctrine of equal rights and equal privileges. We 



4 



are here to put our shouklers to the wheel, not to further the lawless 
course of the General Government, in their reckless experiments on the 
interests and prosperity of a flourishing' and happy people, but to para- 
lise the official arm of that man who has dared to put his unholy hand 
upon the ark of our political safety. We are here because the spirit of 
Liberty has sounded her trumpet through the land. The East has heard 
it, and has acted nobly in the cause. The West, the mighty West, 
has heard it, and has rushed manfully to the contest, and victory has 
perched upon her banner. The North and the South, have listened to 
ahe clang and all have marched to the rescue. Every where victory, 
glorious victory, has crowned their efforts. We, too, of the Key Stone 
State, have heard the sound, and these walls crowded to excess give 
powerful evidence that the people of this great State will not he behind 
their sister States in awakening to their interests, but that the second 
Tuesday of next October, will ring with shouts of victory, which shall 
he heard throughout the Union. We are here because we are opposed to 
principles which make ruinous distinctions between the government and 
the people. We are against all measures which produce one kind of 
money for the office-holders, and another for the people. In a word, 
ire are here because we are opposed to the general policy of Martin Van 
J3uren, and his unholy advisers, in their warfare against our State In- 
stitutions, their Aristocratic Sub-Treasury Scheme, and their cruel 
trifling with the interests and happiness of the people. We are here 
opposed to the election of David R. Porter, because he is one of the 
myrmidons of Martin Van Buren, pledged to carry out his ruinous poli- 
cy. And lastly, we are here because we are in favour of the re-election 
of Joseph Ritner, because he is the man of the people, and is known to 
he opposed to all the measures of Martin Van Buren, and is anxious to 
preserve in their purity the rights and liberties of the people. 

Permit me further to invoke your kind i;id in the discharge of my 
duties. It is no easy matter to preserve order in such a multitude, aad 
without your assistance I may find it impossible. 

On motion of Mr. Dablington, of Chester, it was ordered, that the 
Kules of the House of Representatives of Pennsylvania, govern this Con- 
tention, so far as applicable. 

On motion of J. Washington Tysox, Esq. of the city of Philadelphia, 
it was 

Resolved, That a Committee, consisting of one member from each 
county, be appointed to prepare an Address to the People of Pennsyl- 
vania. 

The following gentlemen were announced by the President, as con- 
stituting said committee: 



J. W. Tyson, 
Harvey L. Bollman, 
John M'Kesson, 
John Weir, Jr. 
D. Lilly, 
John Titus, 
W, W. Brandon, 
U. Gaze by, 
William H. Keim, 
C. F. Mann, 



Addison May, 
James Colhoun, 
C. S. Chambers, 

A. P. Hibsman, 

B. G. Hare, 
J. S. Hyman, 
G. A. Sage, 
J. J. Slocum, 

J. B. McLanahan, 
Wm. H. Slingluff, 



James H. Devor, 
J. Bailsman, 
Y. S. Walter, 
Samuel H. Tyson, 
Abraham W. Monroe, 
Joseph C Burden, 
Bejamin F. Pomroy, 
F. M. Kimble, 
Philip Frazer, 

On motion of Mr. T. Fenn, of Dauphin county, it was 
Resolved, That a Committee be appointed to draft, resolutions for the 
consideration of this Convention. 

The Chair announced the following as said Committee. 



U. W. Wise, 
Charles Storer, 
Alexander E. Brown, 
Jacob Null, 
Holmes Macley, 
Henry McFonkey, 
Samuel Van Fries, 
Robert Park. 



Francis James, 
J. R. Mather, 
John Mickley, 
Job G- Patterson, 
William Morehead, 
J. Pettes, 

John G. Michener, 
James Pleasants, 
Lewis Young, 
William Eves, 
J. B. McLanahan, 
John Turner, 
Joseph Gleim, 



Charles Eastbum, 
J. Russell Barr, 
Jacob D. Boas, 
Samuel H. Tyson, 
R. Casselbury, 
J. A. Law, 
Samuel Yohe, 
J. Coleman Fisher, 
Benj. W. Cum.rn.ings> 
J. F. Cox, 
John H. Wilson, 
H. S. Spademan, 
Richard P.. Franks, 
James Darrah. 



Theophilus Fenn, 

II. S. Spackman and J. Washington Tyson, Esq'rs. of the city of 
Philadelphia, Simon Gebhart, Esq., of Somerset, and Mr. A. W. Bene- 
dict of Huntingdon county, were severally called upon to address the 
Convention. 

On motion of Mr. William Bradford of the city, it was Resolved, That 
when the Convention adjourns it adjourns to meet to-morrow moraiftg at 
9 o'clock. 

On motion the Convention then adjourned. 



Tuesday Morning, June 5th. 

On leave given, Mr. Bausman, of Dauphin, submitted the following res- 
olution, which was agreed to: 

Resolved, That a Committee of Finance be appointed to consist of five, 
whose duty it shall be to receive the contributions of Delegates towards 
defraying the expenses of printing and other incidental charges, attending 
the sitting of this Convention. 

The Committee were— J. Bailsman, Samuel Bell, jr. J. S. Richards, Dr. 
D. Luther, Samuel S. Jackson. 

J Washington Tyson, Esq. from the committee appointed for that pur- 
pose, reported and read to the Convention, an Address to the people of 
Pennsylvania, which was unanimously adopted. 

On motion of Mr. Elliott, of Mifflin, 

Resolved, That the names of all the Delegates in attendance be appe d- 
ed to the Address. 

On motion of Mr, Fenn, of Dauphin, it was 



Resolved, Trial a Young Men's State Committee, consisting of nine mem- 
fters, three in Harrisburg, three in Philadelphia, and three in Pittsburg, he 
appointed, (o correspond with the County Committees oi the Young Men 
throughout the Slate. 

The chair appointed Messrs. Tlieo. Fenn, R. S. Elliott and David Hum- 
mel, jr. of Harrisburg; Henry S. Spackman, James Hanna and Marshall 
Sprogell, of Philadelphia; and Alexander W. Foster, jr. Thomas Williams, 
and William W. Irwin, of Pittsburgh, as said Committee. 

On motion, the Convention adjourned till 3 o'clock, P. M. 

Afternoon Session. 

Mr. James, of Chester, from the committe on resolutions, made a report 
which was unanimously adopted. 

On motion of Mr. Galvin, of Huntingdon. 

Resolved, That the thanks of the great party in Pennsylvania, opposed 
to misrule in the General Government, and favourable to the re-election of 
our present worthy Governor, are due to the Editors in this State who 
support sound principles, for the dignified and spirited manner in which they 
lave conducted the political campaign thus far; and it is hoped they will 
continue in their able and judicious course, till victory crowns our mutual 
efforts for the welfare of our country. 

The Convention was eloquently addressed on the topics engaging its at- 
tention, by Messrs. James, Hanna, Morris, Titus, Bready, Binus, Penny pack- 
er and Darling. 

On motion of Mr. Bryan, of Lancaster, 

Resolved, That it be recommended to the Democratic Younsr Men of 
Pennsylvania, friendly to the present Slate Adminstration and hostile to the 
malpractices of the general government, to organize in their respective 
counties and appoint committees to correspond with the State Committee. 

On motion of Col. C. G. Ciiilds, of Philadelphia. 

Resolved, That the thanks of this Convention be presented to the Pastor 
and Trustees of the Lutheran Church of Reading, for kindly tendering the 
use of said church during the Session, and that a committee be appoint- 
ed to carry the same into effect. 

The Chair appointed Messrs. Child?, May, Darling, James and Kauff- 
man, said committee. 

On motion of Mr. Kauffman, of Lancaster, 

Resolved, That the delegates to this Convention return their sincere 
thanks to the Committee of Arrangement and the citizens of Reading gen- 
erally, for the kind reception and hospitable treatment extended to them. 

On motion of Mr. Elliot, 

Resolved, That the thanks of this Convention are due and be presented 
to the officers for the able and diligent manner in which they have discharg- 
ed their duties. 

On motion of Col. Childs, of Philadelphia, the Convention adjourned 
sine die. 



OF THE DEMOCRATIC YOUNG MEN'S STATE CONVENTION, 
TO TH2 FHOPX.S OF PENNSYkVAKIA. 

Fellow Citizens: 

The present Convention, assembled in Reading, has met from no per- 
sonal or sinister motive. It is composed of upwards of seventeen hun- 
dred Democratic Young Men. friendly to the re-election of Joseph Rit- 
ker, who come directly from the People of forty-two counties of Penn- 
sylvania. 

Your candid attention to the several topics which it is their province 
to review, is invoked with greater confidence, from a consciousness 
that they are actuated by mat singleness of purpose and patriotic aim, 
"which belong to the occasion, but which unhappily so seldom mingle in 
the struggles of partizan warfare. As some pledge of their sincerity, 
they may be permitted to remark, that the usual course oi nature justi- 
fies the expectation that some of them, at least, may be participants, for 
the next half century, in the glory or degradation of the commonwealth; 
— may be the sharers of her destiny, by being the partakers of her weal, 
or the victims of her woe. They can have no interest then to mislead 
public opinion, but every motive whether of patriotism or sell-love, to a 
judicious direction of it. 

They approach the various subjects embraced in the object of their 
meeting, in a spirit of candour — sincerely anxious to avoid error them- 
selves, while they attempt to remove the veil which intercepts the view 
of some portion of their fellow citizens, in regard to public affairs. 

The present eminent Chief Magistrate of Pennsylvania, has already 
been presented to the People of his native State, as a candidate for 
re-election. He came before them originally, recommended by many 
public and as numerous private virtues, by a life of spotless integiity, 
and by an attachment to the revered principles of Democracy, early im- 
bibed, and which the lapse of time had contributed to strengthen and 
confirm. It must now be admitted, that he presents many additional 
claims to the continued favour and confidence of his fellow citizens. He 
stands before them recommended by an ardent devotion to the true 
interests and honor of Pennsylvania, as displayed in all the great mea- 
sures of his administration, and by the respect and applause of the 
friends of good government in other parts of the Union. Thousands 
of his fellow citizens in their primary assemblies, have attested their 
high estimation of his character, and the unanimous nomination of a 
•rery numerous and respectable State Convention of the People, has rati- 
fied their approval. 

No one who will deliberately examine the claims of Governor Ritner, 
to the support of the People of Pennsylvania, can resist the accumulated 
reasons not merely for confidence in his administration, but for the in- 
dulgence of a high patriotic pride. He has shown himself during the 
two years and six months that he has filled the Executive Chair of this 
great commonwealth, the ever vigilant, able and indefatigable friend of 
Pennsylvania interests, and Pennsylvania institutions. Our State had 
long wanted in her Chief Magistrate a guardian of her rights, a defender 
of her policy, and one who would rebuke the obtrusiveness of Federal 
dictation. She has found all this in Joseph Ritner. By his talents and 
firmness, he has been able successfully to resist and counteract the as- 
saults of her wily enemies at Washington. Bred to the soil of Pennsyl- 



v&aia, and engaged, with short intervals during life, in teaching it to 
yield more abundantly, he is attached to it and the great concerns of its 
extended surface, by the closest /lies of affection and nature, — ties of 
which the citizens of other callings can form hut an imperfect concep- 
tion. Perhaps among the whole body of freemen, the practical farmer 
snay claim to feel the most deeply that invincible attachment, that foud 
astd sacved devotion which binds the patriot to his country, and leads to 
those fceroic sacrifices for its happiness and welfare, which have ever 
commanded our admiration and applause. The occupation of the hus- 
bandman brings its laborious pursuer into close contact with the soil. 

contracts for it a filial fondness, which is as favourable to love of 
country,. as the nurture of those precious annual fruits which have beea 
taught to flourish under his care, is propitious to the sentiment of per- 
sonal and civic independence, it was a knowledge of this tendency im 

cultural pursuits, which prompted the memorable declaration of 

rson:— r"To the yeomanry of our country are we to look for the pre- 

ation of our liberties." We therefore find in Governor Ritner all 
those qualities of mind and heart which beget confidence and esteem. 
Not the light and dazzling qualities which are mo often the result of a 
city life — elegance of manners without sincerity of purpose, and scho- 

: attainments without native good sense. Instead of these he unites, 
ivi an eminent degree, those rare qualifications of a useful public man — 
fooaesty without offensive bluntness, quickness of apprehension with ac- 
curacy of judgment, unyielding firmness with great native intelligence, 
enlarged by reading, close observation and extensive intercourse with 
:; lie is emphatically a self-made man, and coming from the body 

of the People, his greatest boast is, that his social and domestic habits 
are and ever will oe, those of an independent yeoman. As chief magis- 
i tte of Pennsylvania, he never forgets that he was born and bred, as he 

always lived, a Pennsylvania Farmer. 
It is a fact not the less remarkable for having been hitherto disregard- 
ed, that though two-thirds of the population of Pennsylvania are engag- 

u cultivating the soil, and the agricultural interest is by far the most 
important of the State, until his election, no practical farmer had ever 
filled the ofnee of Governor. Parties have heretofore concurred in se- 

ing their candidates from other professions. It has been the fortune 
of Joseph Ritner to establish the absurdity of so unjust a principle of ex- 

»ion. The People are left to determine by an examination of his 

, whether a farmer is qualified for the elevated trust of Chief Magis- 
trate of the State. We entertain no fears of their verdict. 

Since his election as Governor, his acts have been characterized by 
that good sense, sagacity and foresight, with which a prudent man man- 
ages the affairs of his own household. lie found the State involved in 
an immense debt, for money expended in the construction of various pub- 
lic works, many of which though completed, were almost entirely unpro- 
ductive, owmg to the inefficiency of those entrusted with their manage- 
ment. The People were groaning under excessive taxation, not only 
without any prospect of relief, but with the disheartning expectation of 
having it increased to a ruinous extent. The children of the State, who 
may become our future rulers, were growing up into manhood without 
the means of education or the appliances of respectability and useful- 
ness. The State, by veering with every breeze that blew from Wash- 
ington, and making her power meanly subsidiary to the advancement of 



political demagogues, was fast losing her character and standing in the 
Union. 

At the expiration of Governor Shultz's term of office, according to 
the statement made in his last annual message, the public improvements 
were on the eve of completion. The chief disbursements for these ob- 
jects, it was with reason inferred, were at an end; and yet under George 
Wolf's administration the State debt increased from §8,140,000 to 
§24,589,743 32! This addition of §16,449.743 32 to the State debt, com- 
bined with $1,298,278 36, received into the Treasury as premiums on 
loans, 8777,172 58 taxes, and §1,260,466 06 of tolls on the public works, 
makes an aggregate of nearly twenty millions of dollars expended by 
Woif during the brief period of six years, To the wisdom and cir- 
cumspection of Governor Ritner, the State is riot only indebted for 
arresting this wild extravagance and wasteful prodigality of the public 
treasure and credit, but for an actual diminution of her obligations con- 
tracted under Woif. Without the provident forecast of our great poli- 
tical sentinel, this debt already so enormous, would have been more than 
doubled by the unwise proceedings of the Legislature. The act of 
Assembly so well known to the People, as the "Mammoth Appiopriatiorj 
Bill," which had been passed by a considerable majority in both Houses, 
was returned by Governor Ritner on the 3rd of April, 1837, with his 
reasons against its becoming a law. In that bill the opponents of Ritner 
saw and predicted his downfall. If he concurred, distraction was to en~ 
sue in the councils of his original friends, and dissent was to call forth 
the slumbering energies of a neutral and indifferent power, which would 
crush him with its opposition. This mine, which the antagonists of Rit- 
ner looked to for involving him and bis friends in wide-spread and undis- 
languishing ruin, was harmlessly sprung. He fearlessly selected his 
ground, and sustained it by one of those direct appeals to the common 
understanding of his fellow citizens, which carried involuntary convic- 
tion. All were satisfied by his reasoning and facts. Even the friends 
of the measure, when the first burst of chagrin, the first effervescence o ? . 
disappointment had subsided, acknowledged the wisdom of his course. 
He showed that many of its favoured objects were local in their charac- 
ter, that they would operate injuriously upon the fever of mad specula- 
tion then rife throughout the country, and that the whole bill would un- 
duly contribute to the public burdens, and unwisely increase the public 
debt. By this sage state paper, a paper which cannot be too highly 
praised for independence and patriotism, $20,000, 000 of additional ex* 
pense was saved to the Commonwealth. 

It is hardly necessary to remind our fellow citizens, that the large 
public debt under which the State now groans, was contracted by the 
predecessors of the present Executive — by that party which opposed his 
election. He has already reduced its amount by actual payments, 
8159,740, and upon the re-payment of the Temporary Loan to the United 
States Bank, which will be made during the present summer, //ie reduc- 
tion of State Debt by Governor Ritner, iv ill amount to $359,740 ! 

Notwithstanding this reduction, those burdens in the shape of Taxes,, 
which pressed so heavily upon the People, lessened the value of their 
farms and industry, and engendered a widespread feeling of discontent, 
bave been greatly diminished. Since the commencement of Governor 
Ritner's term, assessments to the amount of $29 1,509 have been saved 
to the pockets of the People. He procured the repeal of these taxes 



10 



immediately after entering upon the duties of his office. While the 
Treasury was enriched by his immediate predecessor, to the amount of 
near g-300,000, drawn by taxation from the labor of the farmer and 
mechanic, the whole sum derived by the present administration from the 
same source is only g249,457. 

Though the strictest economy has distinguished the policy of Gover- 
nor Rimer, and an unalterable determination has been evinced to suffer 
no increase of the state debt, the public works in progress have not been 
permitted to languish, nor such as were finished to fail for want of re- 
pair. The energies of the administration have been constantly directed 
to the completion of those already begun or under contract, by applying 
to them all the disposable resources of the State, while every effort has j 
been made to increase the productiveness of such as were in use for \ 
travel and transportation. ) 

During the administration of Governor Wolf, the sum total for six j 
years, realised to the Treasury from the public works, was $1,260,466. | 
Owing to the increased efficiency and improved system which now | 
characterise this department of the public service, §2,213,156 have been | 
paid into the Treasury, during the two years and sis months of Governor 
Rimer's term. Never, we believe, since the commencement of our system 
of internal improvements, until the last session of the Legislature, has 
that body omitted to institute a thorough and searching examination into 
the conduct of the Board of Canal Commissioners and those under 
their superintendence. By referring to the party complexion of the late 
House of Representatives, the value of this involuntary testimony to the 
efficiency of the present administration, may be duly estimated. 

It is owing to this prudent husbanding of the public resources, that 
our Farmer Governor has been able to establish and support an extensive 
and admirable system of common schools, and to contribute in other 
respects, to elevate the mora! and intellectual character of the State. — 
During the whole period of Governor Wolf's administration, but S~5,000 
were paid for the support of common schools. Compare this pittance # 
with the liberal expenditure of the present incumbent, and it will be seen if 
how different a helmsman guides the political ship — a ship, it m&y be truly a 
said, that will always ride steady in the severest storms, and triumphant* 
over the fiercest billows, with such a ballast as is derived from univer-| 
sal education. During the short term of Governor Rimer's office, t» 
S383,919 have been appropriated beyond the annual expenditure oC " 
§75,000 provided under Wolf. The yearly disbursments for the sup- 
port of common schools, now amount to §308,9 19. 

One effect of that series of experiments with which the General Go- 
vernment has been astounding and paralyzing the country, for the last 
six years, has been the unexampled multiplication of State Banks. 
While these institutions have sprung up in every other quarter o{ the 
Union, with fearful rapidity, in Pennsylvania they have received a per- 
manent check. Only six new Banks have been incorporated and five 
recharlered, or their capitals increased, since the election of Governor 
Ritner. Of these, five were for agricultural districts and of very small 
capitals, and the acts of assembly rechartering the Manufacturers and 
Mechanics' Bank, Penn Township Bank, with increase of capital, and 
for increasing the capitals of the Girard, and Farmers and Mechanics' 
Banks, all of Philadelphia, were vetoed by the Governor. Subsequently 
two of these were passed by a constitutional majority of both Houses 



11 

oFihe Legislature, without his concurrence. During the term of Gover- 
nor Wolf, thirty eight banks were either chartered or renewed, many 
^vith increase of capitals. To the watchful guardianship of her Execu- 
tive, more than to any other cause, may be ascribed the sound condition 
of our monetary affairs, and the few failures which have occurred in 
the chief towns of Pennsylvania, during a period of unexampled distress 
and alarm, which in other large cities of the Union have proved so fatal 
and overwhelming in their consequences. 

Not content with thus contributing to the social ease and individual 
prosperity of the people, as men and citizens, our venerated Chief Magis- 
trate has sought to exalt the reputation of the whole state, by acts which 
must consecrate his name as the supporter of science and learning, and 
the promoter of liberal designs and high philanthropy. The Geologi- 
cal survey of the State, by which, under a corps of acknowledged ability, 
so much may be promised in the development of mineral wealth and 
the properties of the soil, has continued to receive his emphatic coun- 
tenance. Without specifying his numerous acts as Executive, which 
mark the true patriot and enlightened statesman, it may be observed 
that the cause of benevolence in its wide range and diversified objects 
and relations, has ever found in him a friend and benefactor. 

From these considerations we may sum up the following reasons, 
among others, why Joseph Ritner should be re-elected Governor of Penn- 
sylvania. 

Because, he unites to the independence, the pure integrity, and 
ardent patriotism of the cultivator of the soil, the endowments of strong 
natural talents, improved by reading, meditation, and extensive inter- 
course with his fellow citizens. 

Because, a self-made man and coming from the body of the Peo- 
ple, he can understand their wants and promote their advancement and 
welfare. 

Because, his connexion with public life has made him intimately 
acquainted with the true policy and interests of the State. 

Because, his labors have been unceasingly devoted to the eleva- 
tion of political morals, to the expulsion of the "log rolling system" ot 
legislation, and the correction of abuse in every department of the State 
Government. 

Because, he has discharged his high function in a manner re- 
dounding to the personal happiness of the People, and the reputation and 
glory of Pennsylvania. 

Because, the two term principle having been sanctioned by a vast 
majority of the People, they would be doing to themselves signal injus- 
tice by not reaping the benefits to be derived from Governor Ritner's 
experience during his first three years. 

Because, he has diminished the State Debt §359,740, without the 
aid of premiums on loans or burdensome taxes upon the People. 

Because, he has increased the income of our public works, so as 
to make them yield in a little more than two years, §2,213,156, whereas, 
during the six years of his predecessor they paid but §1*260, 466. 

Because, he has restrained the excessive increase of Banks and 
Incorporations which might interfere with and oppose individual enter- 
prise. 

Because, he has greatly reduced the burden of taxation. 

Because, he has firmly established a system of common schools, 



12 

at a cost of near a million of dollars, and judiciously promoted other 
■seminaries ol learning; while science in a comprehensive sense, benevo- 
lence, and philanthropy have found in him. a warm advocate, an intrepid 
defender, a munificent patron. 

Because, he has alike protected the interests of Pennsylvania from 
State rivalry, and her institutions from Federal interference, and 
taught the minions of power and patronage at Washington, that any? 
attempt to intermeddle with her concerns or policy, will be repelled as. 
an encroachment upon her rights and an outrage upon her sovereignty. 

Were the merits of Governor Ritner less commanding and attractive 
than they ate — did any necessity remain after a review of his wise and 
economical administration, to seek additional reasons for zealously and 
actively sustaining him, the most conclusive might be derived frora 
the character and disqualifying traits of the opposing candidate — from 
the venality and lawless spirit of his supporters. 

It is scarcely requisite, to deal seriously with the pretensions of David 
it. Porter. No freeman of the state, superior to the blandishments of 
profligate power, and above the influence of the dangerous and reckless 
faction by whom he has been nominated, can accord a favorable estimate 
of the willing instrument of levellers and agrarians, the pliant tool of ene- 
mies to liberty and order. 

Little is known of Mr. Porter beyond his labours as a village bar- 
room politician. For many years he held the office of Prothonatory of 
Huntingdon county — a station for which he was supposed to be fitted, by 
a brief study of the law. His career as a student, was productive of 
jnothing worthy of tradition. It is presumed that the discovery of his 
totiiX inability to cope with the vigorous intellects which he would neces- 
sarily have to encounter in that profession, impelled him to abandoa 
it, soon after his entrance upon its study. During the many years he 
was in possession of the office we have indicated, some of his biogra- 
phers state, that his leisure hours were engaged in the interesting em- 
ployment of improving the breed of race-horses, for which he received 
a handsome remuneration, by their sale at enormous prices. 

After much and anxious personal inquiry, for history has not blazoned: 
bis exploits, we are unable to discover any of those public considerations 
operating in his behalf, which should commend him to the favorable 
notice of the People as a candidate for the high office of Chief Magis- 
trate. We may be charged with being old fashioned in our tastes, and. 
unused to the ways of politicians, by looking beyond a nomination and 
investigating the causes which produced it. But does it not behoove: 
every voter in these limes of panic and distress — of corru ption and misrule 
in the Federal Administration, to pause and inquire of those who solicit. 
Jus suffrage for David R. Porter — who is he, and what are his claims? 
By what acts of his life, he has displayed that unyielding fidelity to the 
interests, or familiarity, with the policy of the state, that steadfast adhe- 
rence to principle, that elevated sense of official integrity, that capacity 
to administer the gov.erh.ment and advance the true dignity of the Com- 
n wealth, which merit the exaltation demanded for him? We hazard 
Kio.tih.ing in affirming, that no dispassionate mind can resist the force of 
an honest reply to such queries. A personal acquaintance with the man, 
Etis sympathies, pursuits and habits, to say nothing of his mental im- 
iaeciiity, wiii show that some motive widely differing from a regard for 



13 

the welfare and happiness of the People, has prompted his nomination. 
The profound oblivion in which his views of state policy and principles, 
are involved, the obscurity of his public, and immorality of his private 
life, as well as the negative qualities of his character, abundantly es- 
tablish the fact, that he was selected alone as a fit and ductile instrument 
for renewing the attempt to enslave Pennsylvania, and place her free bora 
yeomen at the footstool of Federal power. 

The recommendations which are dwelt upon with most pleasure and 
complacency by the friends of David R. Porter, are his known subser- 
viency to the dignitaries at Washington, and stubborn devotion to their 
stupendous scheme of a Sub-Treasury Bank. In these he is identified 
■with the principles and policy of Martin Van Buren. The proceedings, 
of the Senate of Pennsylvania, a body of which he has been for two years 
a helpless and inactive member, supplies us with some facts strikingly- 
illustrative of his propensities in this respect. It will be found by re- 
ference to the Journal of last session, that the most important part he 
ever took in its deliberations, was a call for a division of the question on 
the adoption of the resolution of Mr. Johnson, which had before passed 
the House of Representatives. This was with a view of voting against 
that portion of the resolution which instructed our Senators and request- 
ed our Representatives in Congress, to oppose the passage of the bill 
creating a brood of Sub-Treasury Banks; and of voting jor the remain- 
der, which offered the incense of fulsome panegyrick to our hypocritical 
and time-serving President. Not content with opposing his vote to an. 
expression of Pennsylvania's hostility to that ^dangerous and ruinous 
experiment; not satisfied with manifesting his assent to its adoption by 
Congress; he begged permission of that Senate which, by its resistance 
of Federal encroachments, had become the pride and boast of the State, 
to record upon its Journal, the degrading proof of his submission and 
allegiance to the arch-adversary of our commonwealth. It is for this 
self-abasement that the official newspaper of the Federal administration, 
has made him a subject of unmeasured eulogy — that the patronage of 
the General Government has been successfully employed to silence the 
rivalry of Henry A. Muhlenburgh and George Wolf. And this is the 
man, forsooth, who, we are assured by the politicians, will after his 
election, desert the present object of his base idolatry, and join the 
standard of General Harrison or Henry Clay! 

There is but one other circumstance connected with David R. Porter, 
to which we shall invite the attention of our fellow citizens. 

The session of the Legislature of lSSe-'Sr, was rendered memorable 
by the passage of a bill, entitled "an act further to continue and promote 
the improvements of the State," which appropriated the enormous sum of 
three millions and thirty one THOUSAND dollars to company and State 
works. It proposed to borrow on the credit of the Commonwealth, one 
million five hundred and twenty four thousand dollars, to loan to canal, 
rail-toad, turnpike and bridge companies*, and thus pervert the Government 
from its legitimate purpose, to that ot Broker for Stock Jobbers and Cor- 
porations. It contemplated an increase of the state debt, to the amount of 
S45,0O0,Q00! This measure was supported in its progress through the Sen- 
ate, by the votes of David R. Porter; and yet we find him at the last ses- 
sion of the Legislature, voting against a bill which appropriated little more 
than half the amount, and which was to be devoted almost exclusively, tt» 
the repair and completion of the State works and turnpike roads. It b 
scarcely necessary again to remind our fellow citiaeus, that the curse of s» 



14 

immense an incumbrance upon the farms and industry of the State, in- 
volved in the former, was averted by, the firmness of Joseph Ritner, who 
refused to sign the bill. 

The present Constitution of the United States, has not yet numbered 
fifty years. As was prophesied by the venerable fathers of the Republic 
who framed it, unexampled prosperity and contentment at home, peace 
%vith the world, honor and respect abroad, have been its fruits when consti- 
tuting the guide and compass of men in public stations. From the period 
of its adoption by the States, up to 1829, the country enjoyed a proud ca- 
reer of almost uninterrupted happiness and national glory. The experience 
of each successive year, added new triumphs to the friends of liberty 
throughout the world. Every act of the Government and the People, con- 
firmed their anxious hopes, strengthened and invigorated the cause of hu- 
man rights and carried with it a practical refutation of the stale calumnies 
of the absolutist. The "bit of striped bunting" was hailed on every sea, as 
the happy-starred emblem of a free people — as the type of a great and 
prosperous nation. It was exultingly pointed at by the victims of despotic 
rule, as a triumphant rebuke of those who denied man's capacity for self- 
government. Under the influence of our example, thrones were tottering 
to their bases. The black and atone time impenetrable gloom of legitima- 
cy, was fast being dispelled before the .mighty radiance shed from this 
western luminary. Its defenders were reduced from a league of able and in- 
tellectual men, to a dark cabal — to a conspiracy of that portion of Europe 
which had so long lain in a state of obscuration, against that on which the 
beams of science and civilization had fallen. Monarchies had few confed- 
erates left but princes. Their means of self preservation were narrowed 
down to brute force. The gewgaws and trappings of crowned puppets, the 
parade and tinsel of royalty, had lost their power over the passions of the 
People. The world appeared to be awakened from the lethargic sleep of 
centuries, to a new existence. The minds of men had been stimulated 
to reflection. Rights were discerned and power to enforce them, of which 
they before knew nothing. 

At the termination of the period indicated, this rapid but tranquil cur- 
rent in our affairs, was suddenly and rudely obstructed. The Govern- 
ment ceased to be administered upon those principles of simplicity and 
public virtue, which had so long characterised it. Our system became un- 
settled. The old land marks were broken down or disregarded. The 
ship of State was driven from her moorings and cast upon the troubled 
ocean of uncertainty. Political tenets which had been sanctified by the 
authority of the sages of the revolution, were rejected as unsound. What 
had constituted the policy of the country from the beginning, was dismiss- 
ed because of its age, or made to yield to new and untried expedients. 
The Demon of Innovation in the seductive guise of Reform, seemed to pre- 
side over the deliberations of our rulers. Distrust, dissatisfaction and 
alarm among our people, took the place of confidence, contentment and 
security. ♦ 

These changes resulted from the sudden rise and predominance of a 
party, which had not as the basis of its union, a community of principle. 
It acknowledged an adherence to no particular line of public policy, politi- 
cal creed, or rule of constitutional interpretation. It owed its existence to 
a fortuitous combination of causes, the most powerful of which, was a sen- 
timent of gratitude for the brilliant military services of a veteran chief- 
tain. It acted avowedly in opposition to the usages and nominations of 



15 

the olJ Democracy of the country, and bestowed upon its favourite, the 
captivating appellation of the "Anti-caucus and People's candidate." It 
was founded upon the ruins of the two ancient parties, which had then 
become extinct, and was composed of the most heterogeneous and discor- 
dant elements. 

By the publication of General Jackson's celebrated letters to President 
Monroe, with voluminous comments, it rallied under its seductive banner, 
the ultra Federalist and Democrat; the advocate of a strong central gov- 
ernment and the champion of a loose confederation: the vindicator of the 
alien and sedition laws, and the revilerof those statutes; the defender of 
the edicts of embargo and non-intercourse, and the participant in the trea- 
sonable designs of the Hartford Convention; sticklers for the American 
system, and those who demanded the relinquishment of that poiicy, at the 
hazard of disunion; men who considered the decrees of the Supreme Court 
of equal authority with the Constitution, and those who practically set 
them at defiance; such as deemed works of internal improvement the best- 
guarantee of union, aud those who viewed them as flagrant violations of 
the constitution. 

With this party, came into power, a class of selfish, heartless and un- 
principled politicians. Men of disappointed ambition and of desperate 
fortunes, belonging to all the various factions and fragments of tactions, 
displayed a precipitate activity in enrolling themselves beneath its stand- 
ard. By working upon the honest sympathies of the People in behalf of a 
war-worn veteran, they obtained the control of its power and the direction 
of its resistless energies. 

The career of a party so moddled and formed, would necessarily be as 
vascillating as its materials were incongruous and dissimilar. With no 
rule of conduct more elevated than selSish ambition and emolument, its his- 
tory discloses one uninterrupted series of violated pledges and glaring in- 
consistencies. Claiming descent from the Democracy of 1798, they have 
extended the prerogatives of the President, to fearful limits, — transcending 
the most extravagant notions of the original Federalists. Professing tore- 
cognise as legitimate, the metaphysics of the Virginia school of politics, 
they have acted with the avowed design of reducing the Government to a 
"simple machine,"— .such as is presented in Russia or Turkey, where the 
will of one man is the supreme law. Ostensibly the friends of a liberal 
scheme of internal improvements, by sanctioning the veto of the Maysville 
road bill, they have restricted the authority of Congress, until nothing is 
left them but the mere shallow of a power. Advocates of protective duties 
in the North, of a judicious tariff, in the Middle and Western States, they 
deny in the South, the constitutionality of all imposts beyond the purposes 
of revenue. At one period vehement in their protestations of adherence 
to the policy and principles of Mr. Madison and the Republican party, who 
established the United States Bank, an inability to wield the resources of 
that institution for the promotion of their own* base views, united to a di- 
versity of opinion in regard to its locality, has impelled them to become, 
so long as it suits their purpose, its vindictive and uncompromising adver- 
saries. The antagonists of nullification in South Carolina, they proved 
its most effective defenders in Georgia. Stigmatizing the appointment of 
members of Congress to office, as totally destructive of the independence 
and purity of that body, most of the higher stations of the Government 
have been distributed among them as rewards for servility, the betrayal of 
their constituents and prostitution of their power. On one day the ratifi- 
ers of the wildest Federal doctrines, contained in the "Proclamation" of 



16 

General Jackson, on the next, they sanctioned the creed of the State 
{lights School, asserted in the "Supplement." In the case of the United 
States Bank, broadly denying the right of Congress to erect any corpora- 
tion, they have multiplied territorial Governments to provide for devoted 
partizans. Parading as the motto of their foreign policy, that "they would 
ask for what was right and submit to no tiling that was wrong," they have 
violated the most solemn treaties with the Indian tribes, and connived at 
the preparation of armaments within our borders, set on foot with the ac- 
knowledged purpose of waging war with Mexico, a friendly power. They 
have marched an army through her territory, on the plea of preventing a 
■tresspass upon ours. Yet our minister at London, was instructed to humble 
himself before the throne, to the posture of a penitant,and supplicate a mod- 
ification of existing arrangements for the West India trade, as a boon from 
the English King to the American people! They have permitted the un- 
disturbed occupation of a portion of a sovereign state, by the authorities of 
Canada. The forces of Great Britain have been suffered, with impunity, 
to invade our soil upon the Northern frontier and butcher our people in the 
dead of night. Nay, that power has added the grossest insult to injury, 
without so much as an indignant remonstrance from our Government, by 
crowding honors upon the leader of the invading band of marauders and 
cut throats. 

Charging previous administrations with incurring unnecessary expense 
in the conduct of our diplomatic relations and foreign intercourse, 
they have increased it to a sum unexampled in our history. Inculcating 
a watchful jealousy of the encroachments of official power, they have 
plundered the Treasury and distributed the public deposits among mer- 
cenary and profligate parasites. Opponents of the credit system, and 
denouncing bankruptcy as the penalty of those who trade on borrowed 
capital, they have subjected the Government to a competition in the money 
market, with the wildest individual speculators. Promising a reduction of 
the Banking capital of the country, they have augmented it since June 
3850, from one hundred and eleven millions of dollars, to upwards of three 
hundred and seventy eight millions, and the number of banks, from three 
hundred and twenty-nine, to eight hundred and twenty three! Enveighing 
loudly against a redeemable paper circulation, for which silver or gold could 
have been had at any moment, and exacting payment in specie from all 
debtors to the Government, they have compelled the creditors of the na- 
tion to receive millions of unconvertable Treasury notes. The projec- 
tors of an indissoluble union between the Federal Treasury and the 
State Banks, they now demand their immediate, complete, and per- 
manent divorce. What the official journal of the party at one time 
denounced as ''disorganizing and revolutionary, subversive of the princi- 
ples of our Government and entire practice from 17S9 to this day;" as a 
measure that "would incalculably enlarge the powers of the Executive, 
and expose the public treasure to be plundered by an hundred hands 
where one cannot now reach it''— -what the party leaders in the halls of 
Congress, considered too monstrous a proposition to be dispassionate- 
ly entertained, has been made, under the title of the "Sub-Treasury," 
an essential constituent of their system and the touch-stone of partizan 
orthodoxy. And yet General Jackson declared in his Message of Decem- 
ber, 1855, — "In the regulations which Congress may prescribe respect- 
ing the custody of the public monies, it is desirable that as little discre- 
tion as may be deemed consistent with their safe keeping, should be 
given to Executive agents." Noisy in their demands for retrenchment 



17 

in the expenses of the Government, they have increased them, exclusive 
of the Public debt, from thirteen millions of dollars, to about thirty-two 
millions per year! Pledging themselves to diminish the number of 
cferks and subordinates in the various departments, they have doubled 
it. In the single city of New York, the band of Custom House officers 
has been augmented from 174 to 414, and their compensation from 
gll9,000 to upwards of S469,000! Asserting as a cardinal article of 
their faith, that to brin-g the patronage of the government into conflict 
with the freedom of elections, would prove disasterous to the liberties 
of the People, they have made the nation a political camp, in which 
every officer of the administration, from Tide waiter and Penny post up 
to the Chief Magistrate, holds a commission, has distinct duties assigned 
him, and burdensome levies imposed upon his salary. The Washington 
Glebe, established in 1331, to villi Fy and calumniate the best men of the 
country, to excuse and justify fraud and profligacy in office, to excite 
to tumult and riot, and assail the rights and cherished institutions of 
the States, has been supported by government printing to an amount ex- 
ceeding two hundred and eighteen thousand dollars! The Post Office 
department, created for general convenience, as a vehicle of information, 
has been converted into an engine of party operations, and its revenues 
squandered among hungry adherents. 

Proclaiming party, "a monster which should be exterminated," they 
have decreed the slightest dissent from the behests of their own, 
a capital crime, meriting an instant repudiation of the offender. They 
have appointed to office and rejected from office, from the highest 
to the lowest that is known to the government, with reference 
solely to the promotion of a spirit of base subserviency to the party will. 
Boasting a design to extinguish the national debt contracted during the 
•war, by exhausting the means of an ample revenue, provided under the 
auspices of Mr. Adams' administration, they have laid the foundation for 
a greater, in time of profound peace. Vaunting the tact and address of 
their diplomacy, they have accepted indemnities for violations of our 
neutral rights and spoliations committed upon our commerce, which 
had been rejected by previous administrations as insufficient and unjust. 
Claiming to be the exclusive friends of the liberties of the people, they 
have acknowledged men as leaders, one of whom* pronounced the Decla- 
ration of Independence, "a fanfaronade of nonsense," anotherf declared, 
that an extension of the right of sufTerage in New York to every white 
citizen, ''would render their elections rather a curse than a blessing;'' 
another,}: that l 'if he had a drop of Democratic blood in his veins, he 
would open them and let it out;" and yet another,§ "that had he lived in 
the time of the Revolution, he would have been a Tory!" Deeming the 
independence ot the People inimical to their scheme of perpetual rule, 
they have labored to rob industry of its rewards, by producing embar- 
rassments in trade, upon the plea, that great prosperity in nations be- 
gets a feeling of aristocracy among their citizens! Thus the defence 
that has been on various occasions essayed for those measures which 
have produced universal distress in the mechanical and commercial 
classes, paralised industry in all its departments, thrown into utter coa- 

* John Randolph. 

f Martin Van Bnren. See debates in New York Convention, p. 369. 
;. James Buchanan. 
§ Charles J. Ingersoll. 



18 

fusion our financial concerns, made bankrupt the agriculturist of the 
south, and must soon overtake the fanners of the middle and northern. 
States; which have substituted for a sound currency with a specie basis, 
a miserable and depreciated paper circulation, produced intense politi- 
cal excitement, and filled the minds of our citizens with painful anticipa- 
tions and gloomy forebodings of the future, is the alleged consequence of 
indigence and poverty to swell the ranks of this monster party! To ac- 
complish this, they would deny to the frugal and industrious the benefits 
of their honest gains. They would rob the farmer, whose daily toil and 
economy have acquired for him an hundred acres of land, and divide it 
with his idle and spendthrift neighbor, perhaps a degraded victim of 
intemperance and vice. 

In reviewing the events of the last few years, so various are the acts 
of the Van Buren party which demand reprobation for their corruption, 
venality and bad faith, that the mind is at a loss which to sieze upon as 
deserving priority of attention. There is one portion of their system, 
however, if system it can be called, which claims a more particular no- 
tice, from the importance that is at present ascribed to it. 

The successive measures which have reduced the Government from af- 
fluence to bankruptcy, and displaced aspecie currency by one of worthless 
paper, are too well known to our fellow citizens to require enumeration 
here. We need not call to their recollection the overflowing treasury or 
matchless system of exchanges, which existed when this party came into 
power. Nor is it necessary to point their attention to the fruits of mis- 
government and official ignorance, which now surround them. They 
are admonished by the declaration of their arrogant rulers, that 'Moo 
much is expected of the Government by the People," that no remedy for 
the sufferings of the Country, will be attempted by the present adminis- 
tration. It remains with the People to provide a corrective; but in the 
meantime let them not be unmindful of another experiment now attempt- 
ed upon their liberty and possessions. By the new device of Sub Trea- 
sury Banks, it is proposed only to exempt the holders of office from the 
effects of their own imbecility and bungling interference with the finan- 
cial affairs of the nation. For though it involves a divorce of the Banks 
from the Administration, it must not be forgotten, that in like manner 
it proposes a separation of the People from their Government, and an 
intermarriage between the Office holders and the Treasury. Without 
indulging in any invective against the measure or its advocates, which 
the provisions ol the former and the motives of the latter might well 
justify, we may be permitted to elucidate both by a brief reference to 
the characters of those nations who entrust to similar agents the custo- 
dy of their revenues. 

The people of Denmark and Austria, in common with much the larg- 
est portion of despotic Europe, have long reaped the bitter fruits of 
those "hard money Governments," which our Federal rulers desire to 
emulate. The farmers of those countries are bondsmen, and are bought 
and sold like cattle, with the land on which they labour. France is just 
beginning to disburden herself of the incubus, but she may still be 
designated, a "Sub-Treasury Government." The annual wages of the 
working man in France, are g37 50, and S18 75 for a woman, one-fifth 
of the nett profits of which, is required for taxes. About eight millions 
of the People of that country are unable to obtain wheat bread, and sub- 
sist upon potatoes, barley, buckwheat and chesnuts. In Sweeden the 
dress of the peasantry is prescribed by law. Their food consists of 



19 

dried fish, hard bread and oatmeal gruel. Meat is a luxury they seldom 
or never enjoy. The same may be said of Norway. The whole popu- 
lation of Turkey are slaves, and their lives and property subject to the 
unlimited power of ihe Sultan. They are required submissively to kiss 
the bow-string, that he sends with the executor of his commands, to 
strangle them. His murderous decrees are performed by men who are 
deprived of the power of speech, to prevent them from revealing his 
secret orders. In Poland the nobles are the proprietors of the land, 
and the peasants are slaves. The cultivators of the soil live upon cab- 
bage and potatoes, peak, black bread and gruel, without the addition of 
butter or animal food. A recent traveller avers, that though he visited 
every quarter of those countries, he never saw a wheaten loaf to the 
eastward of the Rhine in north Germany, Poland or Denmark. The 
nobles of Hungary own the land but pay no taxes. The labouring classes 
are obliged to repair all high-ways and bridges, are liable to have 
soldiers quartered upon them, and are compelled to relinquish one-tenth 
of the produce of their soil to the church, and one-nimh to the lord 
"whose land they till. The yeomanry of Russia are transferred with the 
estate upon which they reside. They occupy sheds, portions of which 
are appropriated to the use of the dogs, horses and other domestic ani- 
mals belonging to their masters. Few if any have beds, but sleep upon 
bare boards, or upon parts of the immense stoves by which their cheer- 
less habitations are warmed. Their food consists of black bread, and 
Tegetables. The nobles own all the land of the Empire, and monopolize 
to themselves those comforts and luxuries which in this country are 
deemed articles of such common and indispensable necessity, that they 
are enjoved by the poorest of our fellow citizens. 

This detail of the characteristics of '"Sub-Treasury Governments," 
might be greatly extended, but it is sufficient to illustrate the effects 
•which must result to the enjoyments, and the imminent danger which im- 
pends over the liberties of the People, from an attempt to ingraft upon, 
our republican system the fiscal polity of iron and benighted despotisms. 

Though an untried experiment here, the Sub-Treasury possesses no 
greater attraction from that circumstance, than does the nobility of 
Russia, the standing army of France, or the bow-string of Turkey. All 
have been tested in Europe, and the misery, servitude and degradation 
of the People, attest their lamentable results. ''We seek no change, and 
least of all such change as they would bring us." 

The inordinate power with which the Executive of the United States 
■would be invested by a control over the appointment of the clerks and 
other officers of the proposed Sub-Treasury Banks, is happily portrayed 
in a report made to the Senate, in 1 826, by a Committee, of which 
Messrs. Van Buren and Benton were members. 

"The power of patronage," say they, ** unless checked by the vigor- 
"ous interposition of Congress, must go on increasing, until Federal 
** influence in many parts of this Confederation, will predominate in 
"Elections as completely as British influence predominates in the Elec- 
tions of Scotland and Ireland, in rotten borough towns, and in the 
" great naval stations of Portsmouth and Plymouth." "The King of 
"England is the fountain of honour, the President of the United States 
" is the source of patronage. He presides over the entire system of 
■"Federal appointments, jobs and contracts. He has power over the 
" support of the individuals who administer the system. He makes and 
" unmakes them. He chooses from the circle of his friends and suppor- 



20 

" ters, and may dismiss them, and upon all the principles of human ac- 
" tion, will dismiss them, as often as they disappoint his expectations. 
** His spirit will animate their actions in all the Elections to Slatt and. 
"Federal offices." "We must look forward to the time when \he 
"nomination of the President can carry any man through the Senate, 
•*' and his recommendation can carry any measure through the two 
" Houses of Congress; when the principle of public action will be opea 
"and avowed— the President wants my vote, and I want his patronage; 
"I will vole as he wishes and he will give me the office I wish for. What 
*' will this be but the Government of one man? and what is the govern- 
"ment of one man but a Monarchy?" 

Happily for the Country and the People, the darkness of a night 
which has so long reigned, is subsiding and the light has begun to 
dawn. Its rosy hues have topped the high hills of the interior and 
penetrated into the deep vallies of the east. Its opening rays are be- 
tokened wherever the patriot turns. The public mind is awakening 
from sleep to dispel the demons which the gloom had convoked and 
protected. The voice of the ballot box throughout the Union, pro- 
claims, that the spirit of Democracy and inborn Freedom, that spirit 
which resisted oppression at the first, and gave birth to our Republic, 
has arisen in her might to assert the rule of which she has been depriv- 
ed. The thunder toned rebuke of an indignant and outraged People, 
■which is borne to Washington en every breeze from the North and East, 
is echoed by the mountains of the South and comes resounding from the 
prairies of the West. The enemy is driven from the citadel and stands 
prepared to surrender at discretion. The recent repeal of the Treasury 
Circular, by the unboughtand overwhelming vote of Congress, is but an- 
other evidence that the mists of the night are past, and that the radiance 
of a new morning has succeeded. We want, we ask of the Democracy 
of Pennsylvania, who scorn the shackles of Federal power, but a large 
and triumphant vote for the patriot RITNER, to induce the full blase 
and genial effulgence of a bright and glorious day! 

PREAMBLE AND Rl ! OIAKEVOIWS 

Adopted by the Democratic Young Men's State Convention of Pennsylvania. 

Whereas, in the great political revolution at this time in progress in (he Uni- 
ted States, Pennsylvania, one of the most important of those states in every 
aspect in which she may be viewed, holds a conspicuous position, and is en- 
abled to exercise a most potent influence in the contest either for good or evil. 

And whereas, the friends of the National Administration every where, are 
looking with intense anxiety to this state, as their last hope — to a victory here, 
as a rallying point for their discomfitted and broken forces, and are bending 
all their energies to effectuate that, to them, most desirable of all objects. 

And whereas, the election of David R. Porter to the gubernatorial chair 
of this State, will infuse into that party renewed vigor, and by that impulse 
which success in any cause, always gives to its adherents will enable it 
to gather strength, and accumulate as it rolls onward, until the tide of cor- 
ruption, now at low ebb, may again rise to the fearful height from which it has 
lately fallen. 

And whereas, the great interests of the State of Pennsylvania, viewed 
apart from their connexion with the General Government, demand at this 



21 

period af her increasing prosperity, a continuance of the same wise and 
judicious policy which has marked the course of her present excellent Chief 
Magistrate, in his administration of her affairs; a course at once dignified 
and manly, calculated to gladden the hearts of his friends, and win appro- 
bation and applause even from his enemies,~a course which has placed 
our State, when compared to some of her sister States, in an enviabie sit- 
uation, and saved her from the vast amount of suffering with which they have 
been afflicted, brought upon them by the wretched policy of their own cho- 
sen rulers; a course which has enabled him to carry on our system of in- 
ternal improvements not only without additional taxation, but with the re- 
peal of a great portion of the taxes which existed when he came into office 
— which has brought that system under such admirable regulations, as to 
elicit praise from every quarter —from the stranger who passes upon them, 
as well as from the citizen; a course in short which has challenged the ad- 
miration of the liberal and intelligent of all parties at home and abroad, 
and raised the character of Pennsylvania, to an elevation proudly pre-emi- 
nent. 

And whereas this Convention has assembled with the view of advancing 
the interests of the state by securing the re-election of Joseph Ritner, to the 
office which he so ably and honorably fills— whereby the best interests 
of the Commonwealth, moral, civil, and political, will be promoted, the 
supremacy of the laws maintained against misrale ami disorder; the just 
sovereignty and proper independence of the State defended against attempt- 
ed usurpations of the General Government — and Pennsylvania shortly re- 
lieved from the vast amount of debt now hanging over her, contracted prin- 
cipally during the administration of his immediate predecessor. 

Then be it resolved: 

That it is the duty of every Pennsylvanian who loves his country better 
than party, and is willing to sacrifice a portion of private feeling on the 
altar of the public good, to lend his assistance in placing his own State 
■where she ought to be in the great struggle now going forward in this 
Union, between the Hue friends of their country's prosperity, and an ad- 
ministration whose abuse of power, shows it unfit to be trusted — whose cor- 
ruptions can find no shadow of apology, except in its imbecility--who 
would coerce the states into a slavish remission to its imperious dicta- 
tions, and whose very wisdom savours of lolly. . 

Resolved* That the recent history of the General Government will 
long continue to excite the grief and shame of the patriot — grief for 
a wronged people- — shame that a free people should be so wronged: 
That, in the departure of the National Administraiion from the prin- 
ciples of American Conservative Democracy; in the extravagance 
which in the lapse of a few years doubled the expenses of the Govern- 
ment; in the corruption which lias made the honor of that government 
the prize of venality, and subjected the elections of the people to "in- 
fluences destructive of liberty, we cannot but recognize evidences of 
national degeneracy, and appeals, startling and impressive, to the vir- 
tuous patriotism of the uncorrupted people. 

liesolved, That under the principles which have governed the admi- 
nistration of the General Government, we have seen, Avith grief, but 
■without surprise, the Supreme Court cease to be in its sphere, supreme; 
lire treasure of the nation become the possession of the President; 
and the restraints of the Constitution bonds of straw to the uplifted arm 
of executive encroachment. 

Jiesolved, That no nation has ever witnessed, and few would hare 



22 

borne an outrage so monstrous as the recent Experiment — a project 
which, to test the speculations of a visionary, stretched a country upon. 
the rack, and gratified the whim of 'an individual by the ruin of a people. 

Resolved, That the mad and wicked experiment of the National Ad- 
ministration has endangered the stability of our institutioris; has de- 
stroyed the best currency in the world; has paralyzed enterprize and 
industry in all sections of the Union: has reduced an overflowing trea- 
sury to bankruptcy; doubled the banking capital of the country; has 
burdened the people with a newly created national debt, and flooded the 
land with twenty millions of dollars of Treasury shin-plasters. 

Resolved, That the perseverance of the national Administration in urg- 
ing upon the councils of the nation the formation of a National Bank, iu. 
the odious guise of a Sub Treasury system, is a startling and most reck- 
less breach of principles often and loudly proclaimed, and that this 
measure, if adopted, will place the treasure of the nation in the itching 
palms of the office holders; and will, in the language of the official organ, 
prove revolutionary in its tendencies, and subversive of the institutions 
of the Republic. 

Resolved, That we hail the downfal of the Specie Circular as the first 
in a series of triumphs, that will result in the utter prostration of a sys- 
tem of mad experimentalism, pursued by unfaithful public servants, who 
are playing a game to promote their selfish, ends, on which they stake 
the liberty and happiness of the people. 

Resolved^ That in this war against the people, Pennsylvania has been 
made the object of especial wrath; that the national administration, af- 
ter exhausting its malice in the overthrow of the American System, of 
the system of internal improvement, and of the National Bank, to follow 
up its hostility, invaded the sanctity of our domestic sovereignty, and 
by the active use of its patronage and power, endeavored to break down 
our institutions, destroy our credit, impair our prosperity, and distract 
our peace. 

Resolved, That notwithstanding these assaults upon the Key Stone 
State, she has stood and stands erect and invulnerable, the tempest 
which has whelmed others, breaking only in agitated ripples upon her 
shore: That in the face of the efforts to depress her spirits and impair 
her power, in an era marked only by calamities to the nation at large, 
she has diminished her debt, repealed her taxes, redeemed her credit, 
extended her improvements, endowed a system of education, expanded 
her general prosperity, and secured her farmers and merchants from the 
ruin which has bowed other sections of our country to the dust. 

Resolved, That we owe this happy exemption from the destructive 
evils with which the policy of the General Government accursed the 
country, to the genius, foresight, and firmness of our Farmer Governor, 
the sagacious, unshrinking and incorruptible Ritner. He has shielded 
and saved Pennsylvania; Pennsylvania will sustain and honor him. 

Resolved, That Joseph Ritner's chivalric maintenance, against Federal 
insolence and aggression, of the independence of the sovereign State 
over which he presided, manifests the true Pennsylvania spirit, that 
spirit which neither does, nor submits to wrong, and entitles him to the 
gratitude of every man who honors the key stone of the arch. 

Resolved, That Joseph Ritner has rescued Pennsylvania from a moun- 
tain load of debt; that during the administration of Gov. Wolf the State 
debt was increased 816,449,000; that Governor Ritner, while he has 
done more than any of his predecessors to advance all the great inte- 



23 

rests or the State, has not added one cent to the burthens of the people, 
but has, on the contrary, paid off a large amount of the State debt, and 
during the present season will have reduced it 359,700 dollars. 

Resolved, That Governor Ritner is entitled to the gratitude of the 
people of Pennsylvania, for having relieved them, by procuring the re- 
peal of the State tax, from an annual burihen of nearly 300,000 dollars. 

Resolved, That Joseph Ritner, by lifting the currency of the State 
from beneath the heel of Federal usurpation, and placing it upon the 
rock of St,ate sovereignty, has secured Pennsylvania from bankruptcy, 
made her currency the safeguard of her citizens and the envy of the 
Union, and placed heron a proud eminence among her peers. 

Resolved, That under the vvise administration of Joseph Ritner our 
general interests have advanced with unprecedented rapidity; that our 
agricultural, coal, iron and other interests have been iostered into a 
high degree of prosperity; and that the public work which, under the 
administration of Gov. Wolf, produced jn six years 1,260,000 dollars, 
have, under the careful administration of Gov. Ritner, produced, in 
half that time, S2, 113.000; that guided by councils which effect such 
results, our State cannot fail to rise 10 the highest point of affluence and 
power. 

Resolved, That during the administration of Gov. Ritner, the im- 
provements of the State have been sustained and promoted by a wise, 
staid and energetic policy; the system rendered secure and profitable, 
and many sections of the State opened to the vivifying influence of com- 
merce. 

Resolved, That Joseph Ritner, by the endowment of our popular school 
system, has raised a claim to the admiration and support of every free- 
man who advocates the union and perpetuity of popular intelligence and 
popular rights. 

Resolved, That Joseph Ritner has distinguished himself by his demo- 
cratic course in relation to corporations and monopolies, and that no 
previous Governor has exhibited equal energy and firmness in protect- 
ing the people from the unwise and unnecessary multiplication of char- 
tered privileges: That under the administration of Gov. Wolf 38 banks 
were chartered or re-chartered; while the whole number chartered or 
re-chartered under Gov. Ritner is but eleven, several of which were 
chartered against the veto of the executive. 

Resolved, That this Convention conceive the political battle which is 
to be fought on the second Tuesday of October next, as infinitely tran- 
scending in importance, any that has been hitherto waged in Pennsyl- 
vania; and would therefore most earnestly invoke an exercise, of that 
patriotic spirit, that union and concert of action on the part of the de- 
mocratic young men of the Key Stone State, which in times past have 
so distinguished them. 

Resolved, That upon the eventuation of that day's contest depend the 
highest and holiest interests known to, or valued by freemen. The dis- 
comfiture of our party would not only have a ruinous effect upon the 
measures of Pennsylvania — measures in the successful prosecution of 
which is involved her present and future greatness — but it would chill 
the energies and dampen the enthusiasm which is impelling forward the 
cause of constitutional reform in other States. 

Resolved, That as Pennsylvanians. we owe it to ourselves, to our sister 
States, to the noble and incomparable principles of the great republican 
party, to the cause of morals and religion, to posterity and to the world, 



24 

that we bear in triumph to consummate victory, the banner upott which 
is inscribed in glowing' characters, Ritner, the Constitution invio- 
late, the Laws supreme, a sound currency, and eternal hostility 
to executive usurpation, corruption and venality. 

Resolved, That we can and will redeem our beloved State from the. 
thraldom of a party, whose corruptions and mal-practices, appeal to alL 
good men, a»d cry even to Heaven for redress. 

Resolved, That this Convention have the most unequivocal and irre- 
fragable evidence of the incompetency and unsuitableness of David R. 
Porter, for the Executive Chair of this Commonwealth; and they solemn- 
ly believe his election would be a calamity of no ordinary kind, inas- 
much as it would serve to prolong the death throes of the Van Bur en- 
party in Pennsylvania, which in most other States, has grappled with 
death and found an ignominious grave. 

Resolved, That a continuance of the present State Administration in. 
power, will insure to the people a perfection of those cardinal mea- 
sures, upon which depend the ultimate prosperity of Pennsylvania, will 
secure to them the inappreciable blessings flowing from the estab- 
lishment of an enlarged, expansive and benefixient system of General 
Education — and will carry onward to complete and triumphant success 
the great project of Internal Improvement, which has engrossed the 
undivided attention of our State during the terms of office of the three 
last Executives. 

Resolved, That a man who does not possess the friendship nor re- 
spect of chose who have been his associates through life, cannot with the 
least show of propriety, expect strangers to yield him their confidence 
and suffrage; and such is the case of David R. Porter, as his neigh- 
bors, in a language as sententious as it is remarkable for pertinency and 
meaning, declare that they cannot support him "BECAUSE THEY 
KNOW HIM." 

Resolved, That the DemocraticYoung Men, composing this Convention, 
hold in reverence the admonition of the immortal Washington in his fare- 
well address to the American people, ''That all obstructions to the execu- 
tion of the laws, all combinations and associations of men under what- 
ever plausible character, with the real design to direct, control, counter- 
act, or awe the regular deliberations and action of the constituted author- 
ities, are destructive of the fundamental principles of a republican, 
government, and of fatal tendency; that they tend to give it an artificial 
aad extraordinary force, to put in the place of the delegated will of the 
Nation, the will of a party, often small, but an artful and enterprising 
minority of the community, and according to the alternate triumphs of 
different parties to make the public administration the mirror of ill con- 
certed and incongruous projects of faction rather than the organ of 
consistent and wholesome plans, digested by common councils, and 
moderated by mutual interests; and, however such combinations may 
now and then answer popular ends, they are likely in the course of 
time to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious and un- 
principled men, will be enabled to subvert the power of the people, and 
to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards 
the very engines which had lifted them to unjust dominion." 

Resolved, That t.he cause of Joseph Rimer is the cause of the Young* 
Men of the Stale; that they have never rallied but to triumph; and that 
theycan and will re-elect the old Farmer, by a majority of 30,000 votes'. 



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